Totally Off The wall

Be sure and viist the Terracraft Motorssite for pics and videos. Tell them Duane Sent you.

FUN IN THE GRAND CANYON AREA!! The Ultimate Power Trip! Feel the power of controlling 40,000 lbs of steel!! LOADS OF FUN!

Anytime you are in the Area of the Grand Canyon, Sedona, or Williams Arizona you really need to go by and check out the Big Toy Playground. We were in Arizona a while back and stopped by to check it out. We really had a great time. My Wife and I both did the Skid Steer Loaders and it was great. Next time I will have to try the Excavator.

The thrill ride of a lifetime! Feel the power of controlling 40,000 lbs of steel. Big Toy Playground, where YOU GET TO DRIVE AN EXCAVATOR, BACKHOE, LOADER or SKID STEER.You know you've always wanted to run those huge machines you see on construction sites. Now you can, and find out why our heavy equipment playground is LOADS of FUN! Fun for ages 14 and up. By reservation only.

A pair of Colani-designed Mercedes semis. The designer was able to reduce fuel consumption aboard these trucks by 30 percent.How does one take something as lumbering as a semi and make it green? For starters, Colani applied his organic-minded designs to the exterior, making his semis more aerodynamic. With their wide, flat grilles and boxy shapes, semis are among the least aerodynamic vehicles on the road. Once a truck reaches a speed of 50 mph, aerodynamic drag -- the pressure exerted on the vehicle as it moves through air -- there's an increased need for power to keep the truck moving at a steady pace [source: Cummins]. Colani added sweeping contours and lines to his semi designs, giving them a futuristic look and reducing wind-resistance. He also got under the hood to tinker with the engine. He improved upon a 2005 Mercedes-Benz semi by adding a direct-injection, turbo-charged diesel engine to the vehicle. The result? It had almost 150 more horsepower than the original engine and consumed 30 percent less fuel [source: Discovery]. Still, he remained unsatisfied. In 2007, Colani and Siemens collaborated on a new truck. This semi is perhaps more appropriately referred to as a cockpit: The enclosed space is raised above the semi's frame and holds one person. What's more, the truck lacks a steering wheel -- it's driven entirely with a single joystick. The whole semi resembles the head and beak of a predatory bird in flight. With this incarnation, Colani's design managed to reduce fuel consumption by 50 percent [source: Discovery]. That reduction comes exclusively from exterior aerodynamic changes, without any modifications to the engine. So why don't we see Colani's designs in use by truckers on roads around the globe? Perhaps the biggest obstacle is cost. Colani's Siemens concept truck cost $1 million to construct. Mass-produced trucks are slightly less expensive. For example, a new 2007 International 9900 semi sells for around $100,000 [source: Commercial Truck Trader]. Getting that cost down to a marketable price will require a major semi manufacturer to mass-produce the truck. While Colani is an independent designer, this wouldn't be the first time one of his concepts was embraced by a car company. His designs have been built by the likes of Ferrari and Dodge. Perhaps with fuel prices getting higher and truckers striking, a name like Peterbilt or Mack will be added to that list in the future.

Found a new engine for my Truck. This would make a really nice custom Diecast. Maybe Die-Cast Promotions would produce this one for us, or just maybe, it will be my next custom project.

The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine is the most powerful and most efficient prime-mover in the world today. The Aioi Works of Japan 's Diesel United, Ltd built the first engines and is where some of these pictures were taken. It is available in 6 through 14 cylinder versions, all are inline engines. These engines were designed primarily for very large container ships. Ship owners like a single engine/single propeller design and the new generation of larger container ships needed a bigger engine to propel them. The cylinder bore is just under 38" and the stroke is just over 98". Each cylinder displaces 111,143 cubic inches (1820 liters) and produces 7780 horsepower. Total displacement comes out to 1,556,002 cubic inches (25,480 liters) for the fourteen cylinder version.

The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine is the most powerful and most efficient prime-mover in the world today. The Aioi Works of Japan 's Diesel United, Ltd built the first engines and is where some of these pictures were taken. It is available in 6 through 14 cylinder versions, all are inline engines. These engines were designed primarily for very large container ships. Ship owners like a single engine/single propeller design and the new generation of larger container ships needed a bigger engine to propel them. The cylinder bore is just under 38" and the stroke is just over 98". Each cylinder displaces 111,143 cubic inches (1820 liters) and produces 7780 horsepower. Total displacement comes out to 1,556,002 cubic inches (25,480 liters) for the fourteen cylinder version.